The Director-General of Health has announced there are no new Covid-19 cases in New Zealand today.
Speaking at today's Government media conference, Dr Ashley Bloomfield also said there has been one death from coronavirus since yesterday's update from an old case the Ministry of Health had previously considered recovered. The death toll moves to 22.
Dr Bloomfield gave some insight into the deceased announced today with permission from the family. She was Eileen Hunter, a resident from the St Margaret's rest home in West Auckland.
"Eileen was in her 90s, she passed away on Sunday and she was much loved by all those who knew her," Dr Bloomfield said.
"She was confirmed as having Covid-19 in mid-April and had been transferred from St Margaret's to Waitakere Hospital and then to North Shore Hospital for care.
"Once recovered, with two negative test results, she was transferred back to St Margaret's."
Dr Bloomfield then explained the reason Ms Hunter's death was not initially noted in New Zealand's death tally and why it has been added today.
"It's important to note to that Eileen was considered recovered from Covid-19 at the time of her death and Covid-19 is not recorded as the primary cause of her death on her death certificate.
"However, after consideration we have decided to include Eileen's death in our overall tally of Covid-19-related deaths consistent with our inclusive approach to date so that we have got a good idea of the full impact of this condition on our health and wellbeing in New Zealand.
"This means our total number of Covid-19-related deaths is now 22."
The updated death toll comes after Ms Hunter's family spoke out to media about their mother's death, telling NZME "it's been a total shambles" identifying how she died.
Today's announcement means New Zealand's total number of people who have or have had Covid-19, including probable cases, remains at 1504. The number of confirmed cases - the number New Zealand gives to the World Health Organisation and compares with other nations – is still 1154.
Of those cases, Dr Bloomfield confirmed 1474 people have recovered, up 12 from yesterday and leaving just eight active cases in the country. A recovered case means the person is symptom free for at least 48 hours and it has been at least 10 days since they first became ill.
Dr Bloomfield added there is no one in hospital with the virus at the moment.
There are still 16 significant Covid-19 clusters around the country. A significant cluster is a group of 10 or more people who have or have had the coronavirus. Two have been closed.
Yesterday, 4255 tests were carried out in New Zealand, bringing the total number of tests completed to date to 271,690.
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